Belgium's Kim Clijsters beat fellow countrywoman Justine Henin 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) to win a drama-charged final of the Brisbane International tennis tournament today.
The two great rivals battled it out for two hours, 23 minutes before Clijsters eventually claimed victory on her
fourth championship point.
Henin's hopes of winning her first tournament since making a comeback to the sport ended with the loss, but she
showed enough to suggest she will be a major force at the upcoming Australian Open.
Clijsters, who made her own comeback midway through last year, played some brilliant tennis in the first one and a half sets and appeared headed for an easy victory.
But she stumbled badly when trying to close out the match at 4-1, and Henin seized on her opponent's nerves, attacking
relentlessly and winning five straight games to put the match back on even terms.
Henin kept the pressure up at the start of the third, winning her first service game, breaking a shell-shocked
Clijsters then holding her own serve to lead 3-0 and take an apparently firm grip on the final.
Clijsters refused to give in, however, and broke back to put the set back on serve only to give away the advantage in
the eighth game when she put an overhead smash into the net to concede the break.
Clijsters refused to give in, however, and broke back to put the set back on serve only to give away the advantage in
the eighth game when she put an overhead smash into the net to concede the break.